


Tales of Tails

by theawesometoris32



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Beautiful tail, Bucky totally digs it, Come on guys it's me, Crack, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fish, Fluff, I swear a lot sorry, Mermaids, Of course there's gonna be smut, Reader is a mermaid, Sign Language, Tag As I Go, Why is mermaids not yet a tag?, Your tail is awesome, shifting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-04-23 10:18:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4873036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theawesometoris32/pseuds/theawesometoris32
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're all amazed. In front of them, is a young woman, naked, wounded and bleeding onto the shore. That's not why they're shocked. Oh no, they got used to all of that YEARS ago.</p><p>The young woman is naked, wounded and bleeding onto the shore- and also has a tail.</p><p>This is new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not the most convenient of discoveries

"Son of a fuck!" Tony screeched over the intercoms. 

Everyone hissed a _"What?"_ over their own sounds of panting, waiting for his grand revelation. They were all currently in their own dire situations- trying to defeat these stupid robotic roaches _again._ All they were to them, however, were horrible messes of mechanics that crawled and screeched, much like the bugs they were trying to represent. Well, minus the antennas that shot out lasers. Which were just fucking marvelous. The intercom clicked again, letting them all know that Tony was back on the line, about to give them an answer.

"We've got a code pink! Civilian got caught in the crossfire- need Banner on the scene ASAP." The intercom clicked off again, but the connection was reestablished just as quick as it was turned off by none other than Natasha.

"How in the _fuck_ did someone get caught in the crossfire? We evacuated the whole place four hours ago!" Natasha yelled back, especially pissed to hear this. She spent literally a whole fucking hour away from the action just to convince the city hall to initiate an evacuation. That ended real quick when one of the roaches crawled through one of their window-walls, causing every single member of the council to dive behind any possible object. Natasha's pretty sure that one of them even pissed themselves.

"Well, uh, I don't think that she's from around here..." Tony drawls un-surely, his eyebrow lifting as he observes the scene before him.

"You know-" Clint muttered, sounds of something smashing behind him before he continues- "I really don't understand why that has such a happy color, it totally contradicts the whole "emergency' part of it. Sounds more like you're describing a my little-" Clint got cut off abruptly by Steve, who had dashed onto the scene as soon as he heard 'code pink'. Knowing that the rest of his team could handle the situation at hand.

"Shut your yap. Banner? You read?"

"Loud and clear, Cap. On the scene in 5."

"Did Cap just say yap?" Tony guffawed, despite the fact that they were all basically in the line of fire. A rouge laser beam even reflected off of his suit; hitting one of the roaches completely unintended. But he isn't complaining.

Ten and half minutes later, Thor and Natasha had finished the roaches off; Clint sliding under them and shooting them in the belly to ensure that they were officially out of working order. The whole team was now gathered in front of the young woman, trying to do what they could to help. Bruce is crouching, trying not to get any sand in the medical equipment as he works on her; instructing Steve to put pressure on the puncture wound. Natasha debates whether or not she should cover up the woman's bare breasts, but eventually decides against it. Bucky looks awestruck, not having anything to say about her at the moment. She's somewhat submerged in the water, her blood seeping into twirling wisps with the waves.

They're all struck with shock. In front of them, is a young woman, naked, wounded and bleeding onto the shore. Now, that's not exactly rare in their books, as much as they hate to admit it. Oh no, they all got used to that _years_ ago. You have to with this job.

The young woman is naked, wounded and bleeding onto the shore- _and also has a **tail.**_

_Well, this is new._

 

You wake up with a start, nearly shrieking when you see wires all over your body. _God dammit, swam into the reef again._  Taking a shell that you've made a makeshift shiv out of off of your bracelet, you saw at the wires, mistaking them for astray kelp.You let out a heaving breath, feeling the gills along your sides shift with the action. When you wriggle the remaining pieces of the wire off of yourself, you hear a blaring sound that hurts your sensitive ears. A few seconds after the blaring sounds go off, three silhouettes are standing in front of the... _shit what is this? It's water, but...you can't swim. What kind of sorcery is this?!_

The tallest human grabs onto the top of the... the _thing,_ and rips it off, hands skimming the water in rapid motions. The fan of webbing at the end of your tail twitches irritably on top of the water as the human does this. No longer frozen with shock, you shoot a hand out of the water and grasp his wrist in a tight grip. He recoils and tries to pull away from you, reacting as if he was shocked, but you hold on for the ride; feeling your body begin to shift with the changes of the environment.

Your gills seal, the fins along your spine, ears, and arms retract back into your body, leaving a light (F/C) hue to you (S/C) skin, and much to your distaste-your senses are dulled. The human watches with profound astonishment as your silvery scales separate and disappear, revealing legs. You're placed unceremoniously on the tiled floor, your wet body making a loud smacking sound in the process.

Gasping to get oxygen in your second set of lungs, you twitch your head to the side 3 times as a way to ask "What's going on?" At least, that's how the language works in your species. All three of the humans glance at each other. You stare at them confusedly, waiting for one of them to answer your question. Finally, the large blonde steps forward.

Making slight gestures with his hands and eyes, you understand his answer perfectly- although you're pretty certain he meant to say "safe" rather than "snake".

"You're snake, we are here to help you, what is your name?" 

Squinting suspiciously, but feeling much safer that someone else recognizes your language, you answer him honestly.

 _"(Name)"_ you sign.

 _"(Name)?"_ he signs back.

 _"Yes"_ you sign again.

He nods and speaks in the human tongue to the others; the one with glasses writing quickly on a scrap of parchment. Squirming oddly on the floor, you attempt to stand, fumbling a bit with your new form. You hate humans, and you hate shifting into them. This human is peculiar though, he understands you, and doesn't seem to be hunting you. 

The human with glasses blushes, while the other stands there with a sultry smile. You look down, not seeing anything wrong with yourself, _well other than the fact that you're in this awful form_ , but other than that, you appear as any other human female would. Breasts, hips, legs, feet, vagina- the works. What'd you get wrong?

The blonde one must have sensed your dilemma, because he un-clipped an article of clothing from his back, and draped it over you.

_"Need clothing"_

_"Okay"_

 Ah, that's right- humans wear material over their bodies _._ Well excuse you for forgetting when you don't even know how you ended up in this situation in the first place. Closing your lids slowly in a "thank you" manner, he nods, smiling at you in understanding.

Now that you're covered, and actually are starting to relax a little, you start to notice a pain right underneath your left breast, that quickly grows until you can't stand it and yelp loudly. Not giving a damn about their human terms, you toss the cape to the floor and investigate your chest. Right under the bump of your breast, is a deep red wound, with purple tinging the skin around it. Looking at it, you try to identify a creature that could have caused this kind of damage to your body. It's an irregular round shape, so maybe it was a swordfish, but the wound would have been much deeper, so no, perhaps not.

Did the humans do this?

Is this a trap?

You've been caught.

 _Not gonna keep me this time, you fucks_.

No longer trusting them as much, you back away slowly, before making a full out sprint for the door. They are too shocked by your sudden change of demeanor that it takes them a few seconds until they're in the right mind to chase after you. You hear loud noises behind you, but you fear that they've caused this; that they'll cause you more pain.

"(NAME)!"

Ignoring the yelling, you run into a corridor, and keep on running, until you come upon an odd door that has buttons. Smashing the buttons curiously, yet fervently, you're delighted when the door seems to magically slide open. You hop in and feel much more secure when they close. You're honestly surprised how well that you're running with your new, clumsy form, but you don't care to delve into details at the moment. A harmonious tone is playing in the moving container, and it appeases to you- it nearly sounds like the song of whales. Intrigued, you touch the cool walls, slightly forgetting your plans for escape.

That is until there is a loud ding, and the doors hiding you suddenly opened, leaving you vulnerable to another room. This room has a lot less metal, and instead has soft looking things dotted all throughout it. Seeing a sign that says "EXIT" in bright red letters, you dart for it. You may only know a few words of their tongue, but from your experiences, you know the word "EXIT" by heart.

Only a couple of meters from the door, you groan when you slam into something solid and soft. Babbling curses in your dialect, you scramble to get past the blockage, going as far as digging your nails into the carpet, but are held back by a large hand.

"Hey, shit you okay-" the human stops himself short, and get's a good look at you. You're (H/L) (H/C) hair brushes along the carpet that you're clawing into, and your (E/C) eyes shine with fear and adrenaline. He knows that look well enough -you're in a state of panic. His first instinct is usually to shoot someone who suddenly slams into him, but he remembers that you're the one that they found on the shore- the one with the _tail._   Speaking of that, where the fuck did it go? Conjuring up a way to calm you down that Steve had used on him more than once, he lowers his voice down to a soothing tone, and using the hand that isn't keeping you from crawling your way out to the alley, reaches down to comb through your hair in a gentle motion. 

"You're alright. Um, you're the mermaid girl, right?" he intones, still keeping his voice level. You nod- their words meanings having a similar effect to your language. You also know the words "Mermaid" and "Girl".

Your body is becoming limp, to such an extent that you're concerned if he knows what he's doing. You're not sure if he understands what he's doing, but brushing one's hair-whether it be with fingers or a comb-is a routine way of courting from where you're from.  Why he's doing it, isn't clear to you, but the effect it has on your body is anything but subtle. It calms your nerves to the point that you've stopped clawing at the carpet, and are now making gentle noises as you sink your body to the floor.  He continues this method, looking at you; perplexed. 

You have a distant nagging in the back of your mind telling you to keep trying to get way, but it seems that you can't control what centuries of evolution has done to your species, and thus your own body's responses to light, focused touches. The human has found something that was meant to be kept secret, and you're embarrassed by just how quick he's discovered a way to easily coerce you.

"Buck! She in here?" Steve yells, Thor, Tony, and Bruce close behind him. The rest of the team has been alerted of the runaway, and Steve was on it in an astonishing amount of time. Bucky tensed a little, before making a "shush" gesture with his finger, all the while still petting your hair. They all go quiet, while Thor slowly approaches you. You open your eyes sleepily, too comfortable to be overly concerned with this brute of a man hovering over you. He hooks his arms under your legs and shoulders, pulling you away from the warmth that was called _"Buck"._

Your emotions dim and your body sleepy, you let him carry you over to a soft chair, and go pliant when he sets you down and wraps a blanket over you to hide your modesty. Content, you let your body rest, since you simply can't fight the works of your biology.

Once they've all come to the conclusion that you're beat, the adrenaline rush leaked out of your body, they glance over at Bucky, giving him accusatory glares.

He's an assassin, or well, used to be. But either way, he knows ways to make people drop within seconds, either unconscious or dead when they hit the ground, depending on what Bucky chooses.

Tony voices his accusations first.

"Jesus Christ, did you drug her?!" he mutters, still trying to catch his breath from chasing after you. Bucky holds his hands up, pleading innocence.

"Shit, she just ran in here, and... and was panicking, all I did was pet her hair!" he pleaded. Steve, who has been wrongly named Captain America, and should have been named "Captain Obvious" pointed at Bucky's trousers.

"Gotta thing for pretty hair, Buck?" he jokes, not even attempting to hide a snicker. Bucky looks down, and crosses his hands over his tented pants quickly, actually managing to sport a heavy blush.

"She was naked and basically purring on my lap! Give me a break, you fucking punk!" 

"No, no, I understand. I'll just have to keep an eye on you next time we order sushi. Make sure you don't sneak some off to your bedroom"

"Fuck off, Steve." he shoots back, awkwardly attempting to adjust himself in his pants so that his boner was less noticeable by his jury of friends.

"Aw, I love you too, Buck."

"Now, if you guys are done flirting, I'd like to discuss the problem at hand." Tony interrupts, dodging the pillow that was aimed at his face.

"And what would that be?"

"Well, we got a mermaid crashing on our couch at the moment, if that's not interesting, then I don't know what is."

_That was new, too._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How'd you guys like the first chapter? This is an idea I've had for a while, and I think that it's gonna be fun to write. I know, I have other fics that I need to update, but sometimes I get writers block in certain area's, and this was just kind of born.  
> So try not to hate me too much, my lovelies!
> 
> Let me know how I did, 'cause I'm a little nervous about this one ^.^ Love you all! Stay beautiful my lovelies!


	2. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get to meet the humans properly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a scene where fish are killed. This will probably be a recurrence throughout this story. I hope that this doesn't offend anybody. <3

Waking up this time, wasn't as terrifying as it was the last time that you'd woken up in the Avengers Tower. Instead of wires and restrictive tanks, you were curled up on a very soft chair, with a blanket covering your nude body. Stretching your tired muscles out languidly, you let out a groan of protest when your skin itches uncomfortably. Your body is used to water, and although it's no harm to you, being out of water for extended periods of time is irritating. Shifting a bit, you see a strange cloth contraption with hooks, and a long blue tunic on the stand beside you. Not knowing what the hell the contraption with the hooks was, you ignored it and went with the tunic instead. You struggled a bit with what direction that it goes on, but eventually figured out that your head goes through the biggest hole. The clothing was loose and flowy, but that still doesn't mean that you like it. 

Feeling better about your situation, you feel your stomach growl in distress. You haven't eaten any food for the past day or so, and after the exertion of shifting so suddenly yesterday, your body is absolutely drained. You're guessing that running right after your shift wasn't the best idea, either. Looking around for any possible sources of water, and finding none, you're not too sure how you're supposed to catch any.

That was until you found a tank similar to the one that you were earlier in the other room. All kinds of creatures swam in it, colorful and bright. Your mouth salivated profusely.

 

"No, Jarvis said that she's up. I just don't know where she-" Tony stops dead in his tracks, his search party- also known as Steve, Bucky, and Sam- nearly crash into his back.

"What Tony? Why'd you-oh." Steve just shuts himself up right then, watching with astonishment and a slight look of disgust. Bucky and Sam have got on, but have decided against saying anything.

Standing on the other side of the room, is you, clad in the tank dress that Natasha had provided, with both of your hands plunged into the tank of frightened fish. They notice that while the rest of your body may be in human form, the light (F/C) fins have reappeared on your forearms. When you catch one of the fish -rather quickly- you stick it into your mouth greedily. Scales and all. You chewed delightedly, as you fished around with your hands for more.

Sam takes this golden opportunity to speak.

"Isn't that, like, cannibalism?" he whispers curiously, looking at Tony for an answer. Tony gives him an "I don't know" kind of shrug, and begins approaching you slowly, but instead of being quiet and mindful like the rest of them were, he talked to you directly.

"What'd you doing there, princess?" he cooed. Jumping like you were shocked, you drop the other colorful fish that you had grasped in your hands. You barely notice your fins retracting back into your arms. Turning around so that you're now facing him, you sign at him madly.

_"Keep back."_

He nods his head a couple of times in understanding, stopping where he stands.  Whether or not he actually understood you or was just keeping his distance to avoid your fury, was lost on you. Then, with an exasperated look, he makes a dramatic gesture to the fish tank.

"You see that guys? This is what happens when you're nice to people."

"She's not exactly what I'd describe as a person." Steve interrupts, still a little disturbed about how you ate a fish completely raw. Sure, that's what sushi was, but at least those fish were already _dead_.

"Either way. I _save_ her _ass_ , bring her back to _my home_ , and she _eats_ _my_ _fish_." 

"They're just fish Tony. You're a billionaire, go buy another." Sam argues quickly. Tony has billions of dollars, he can have as many goldfish as he wants. He's just picking something to be an asshole about again.

"You don't understand. That fish that she just om-nommed? That was an _Australian Flathead Perch_." he seethes, emphasizing the last three words.

"So...?"

"Those things are fucking 5,000 dollars _each_."

"What do you expect, man, she got hungry. Although I'm still wondering whether or not that this is considered cannibalism."

Hearing that, you intervene, actually speaking their language for once. Another thing that you hate doing, but you feel like they're treating you like a child. You can speak their language, but you're so used to signing that it's nearly tiring just to use your vocal cords. Signing is the preferred way of speaking underwater, because no one can understand what " _Gurrrglebla"_ means when someone attempts to talk with their mouth. It's mostly the children that attempt it; bubbles ghosting over their faces and rising to the surface as they attempt to talk without signing. Children learn very quickly that if they expect to be understood, then they need to sign with their hands and body. (The tail is so helpful in expressing emotions).

"I'm not eating my species. I'm a mermaid, not a fish, you... you idiot." You almost faltered when you forgot how to pronounce their terms for demeaning someone, but feel that you did an okay job.

All of their heads swivel to look at you, mouths agape. You twist one of your ankles so that your foot goes from side to side; a habit that, if you still were in your other form, would mean that your tail would be flicking irritably atop the water. It looks different, and isn't as obvious, but it's the same damn thing.

After they've finished gaping, Bucky- out of all of them- clears his throat. Drawing everyone in the room's attention.

"So, uh. You hungry?" he asks tentatively. It's stupid, but he feels like he has to be careful around you. Not wanting to say anything that could cause him to become a target of your distrust. You consider his offer for a moment, and decide that you'll give them a shot to earn your trust. Plus, he's the one that- _"Buck" they said his name was_ \- Buck is the one that played with your hair the other day. Making the simplest of gestures, you open your mouth, and point at it; nodding you head. You attempt reaching your hands back into the tank, but Bucky reaches it first, grabbing your wrists gently. _That's where the food is, ain't it?_

"I don't know what you guys- I mean ladies! Mer-people? Eat so um-" Tony cuts off Bucky's rambling quickly. Good thing to- Bucky nearly looked like he was gonna have panic attack with how bright his face was getting.

"It's pretty obvious what they eat. They eat very expensive fish. Fish that they were not allowed to eat. Bad (Name), Bad." Tony chastises you like a dog, but you more-or-less don't understand him, so you ignore him for now. He's a rather loud, human, you decide. Before Sam or Steve can intervene, Tony continues his "no eating my fish" rant.

"Jesus, I bet that she wouldn't even have a problem with eating a Platinum Arowana for a midnight snack, either. Which, by the way, I do have a few, but I'm not going to tell any of you where they are, let alone her." he sneers, a glum look on his face.

"Tony shut up, and by the way, later I wanna know what the hell a platinum arowana is. But for now, someone go fetch the lady an apple or something." Sam says interestingly. He turns to look for Steve's approval of his argument, but finds that is no longer in the room. Steve has decidedly left the room in an attempt not to throw up. He may be a supersoldier jacked with "instantly fuckable juice" (Which Tony came up with that, and it ended up sticking) but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have an un-easy stomach sometimes.

"ANYWAYS-" Bucky drawls conclusively. He looks at a bowl of fruit sitting on the table a couple of feet away from him, and snatches up a pear. It's one of the fruits that he personally enjoys himself.

"Here you go." He awkwardly puts the odd shaped fruit into your hand, and you lift it up to your face, holding it at eye-level so that you can investigate it. _This has got to be the weirdest fish that you've ever seen._ Not knowing where to bite, you take a little nibble on the stem; making a face when it scratches your tongue. 

"No, no- like this. There ya go." he re-positions the fruit, and takes a bite himself. Showing you how to eat it. You watch his lips move along the _fish?_ as he bites it, and attempt to mimic it when you take your own bite of the soft flesh. You're delighted when a burst of sweetness flows over your taste buds, and take another bite. You swing your hips in a happy motion (Once again, you wish that you still had your tail, then your motions would look a lot less like crazy dance moves). You swallow, and smile at him, before taking another bite of the sweet...fish? You instantly want to know what this is, because it's so sweet and you want more and you need to know what they are so that you can ask for more of them.

_"Fish?"_

"Hey? Can someone get Thor? Need a translator." Almost like magic (probably was) Thor appeared at the doorway, not bothered at all by Bucky's request. He stood across from you, and signed.

_"Brother James wishes to communicate with you."_

_"Brother James? Is that the one referred to as "Buck"?"_

_"Everyone seems to call him Bucky."_

_"Okay."_

"What did you mean to ask of her, Brother James?" Thor questioned Bucky. You turned your head to look around the room for the other humans, but the other two have gone. It is only the three of you now.

"Oh, yeah. She did something with her hands a few minutes ago. Didn't understand it."

" _Brother James is confused, what have you asked?"_

_"I want to know what kind of fish that was."_

Thor translates for you, and Bucky actually laughs. Not a fake one, either. But one that made the apples of his cheeks rise and glow with mirth. Thor laughs heartily, as well, before turning back to you.

" _Not fish, my lady. It is a fruit. Called "Pear". Would you like another?"_

Not even signing, you nod your head quickly, wanting that sweet taste again. Eating fish all throughout your life, you've never had the chance to try "fruit" or "pear". Now you're determined to have all of it before you leave.

Bucky tosses you another pear, and you bite into it. Juice runs down your hand, and drips onto your tunic, but you don't mind it; too lost in the flavor of the fruit.

Bucky looks over to Thor.

"Well, uh, maybe Tony's platinum arowana will survive the night." he jokes, watching you gobble down the pear. Instead of fish, you may just eat all of the pears within the vicinity.

"Indeed" Thor agreed, not mentioning the fact that he didn't know what the hell a "Platinum Arowana" was.

Perhaps a weapon?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, I'm glad people are liking this story! Let me know how I did on this chapter? I might go back and edit, I'm a little unsure about this one. Even if you hated it, tell me your thoughts! Constructively, of course :) Love you! Stay beautiful my lovelies!


	3. First month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically a summary of your first month with the avengers. :)

"So, you love it? Of course you do, I made it." Tony drawled cockily. You looked warily at all of the whirring circles along the inner linings of the pool, cocking your head to the side in slight confusion.

"Will it hurt?" you asked, watching his face for any signs that he was being dishonest. He dramatically flung his chest back, grasping a hand over his left pec, before making low gasping noises as if he was shot. You waited patiently for his ordeal to conclude.

"What?! No. You worried about the chemicals? I may not have a major in marine biology, but I am a genius, you know. It'll be the best damn water you've ever swam in." he declared, suddenly recovered from your shot at his ego. You squint your eyes, deciding to try it out for yourself.

"We'll see about that, Tony." and with that, scanning the water with a scrutinizing gaze, you tug the blue shirt that you were wearing over your head. Kicking the jeans that you'd been wearing aside as well, you saunter towards the water tentatively. _(You only find it necessary to wear a shirt and pants, or even just a dress. None of those constricting things called underwear)._ Tony looked on gratefully. He doesn't mind your obscure behavior _one_ bit.

Taking one last glance at the blue water, you dive in headfirst. Your skin tingles pleasurably as you let your body shift. Second set of lungs _(really your first, since all mer-people are born in water, but, you're not getting into specifics)_ shifting into gear and filtering water through the gills lining your abdomen. Your legs scaling over and fusing together to form your silvery (F/C) tail. Spines of your fins coming through the skin of your arms, ears, and back. The water felt cool and like home, cascading over your skin like silk.

This truly was your favorite form to be in.

After swimming in the large pool for a while, testing the waters (quite literally), you swam back up to the surface, leaning your arms on the edge of the white tile. Tony gave you a hopeful look.

"So? It's great right?" he asked, actually showing some nervousness as he watched your expression carefully. You scrunched your face up into one of disappointment, and sighed.

"What is it? This is the most high-tech fish girl friendly pool ever constructed!" he scoffed in disbelief. You almost broke your facade with a smile, but you managed to hold it back. You even flicked your tail against the top of the water in mock annoyance- for extra measure.

"Oh! It's um- great. But the other day, I was watching one of those...light box shows- with Steve and-"

"You mean the TV."

"Yeah- that, anyways. There was a tank that had really blue rocks all over the bottom, and um... they looked like the ones by the coral reef and I kinda..."

"OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD. You are _such_ high-maintenance." he drawled good-naturedly, all the while tapping away on his tablet, ordering a mass amount of blue ornamental rocks for your bedroom pool.

 You splashed your tail happily, spinning in a slight circle with a big smile.   

 

"(Name)" Natasha called. You ducked your head away from your sandwich, and tilted your head to the side, in a manner that the team has learned meant _"continue, you've got my attention"._

"You need to start wearing a bra."

"A bra?" you mumbled, having to work your words around the large bite that you'd just taken. You tried to remember anyone teaching you about one, but you've got nothing. You remember being taught about the microwave last week- after seeing Clint use it and being convinced that it was meant to hurt you, you went in hiding for 4 hours straight. They eventually found you hiding in one of the linen closets, and even then you tried to pretend that you were a sheet.

_"(Name)? I know you're in here." Bucky huffed, blowing a piece of stray hair away that'd fallen out of his messy bun. He kept his tone gentle, knowing that you were scared. Clint had explained to everyone about what happened, and how he felt like an ass because of it. Bucky doesn't blame you-really. He had the same reaction, expect he stood too close to it and his arm malfunctioned so, he could understand why you'd gone and ran off._

_"No, no (Name) here, just sheets." you said in a gruff voice- impersonating the sheets around you. Bucky sighed- he came looking for you here, since he's hidden more times than he would like to admit throughout the tower. The others were searching around the tower too._

_"(Name), the sheets don't talk." he retorted, a playful tone easing into his voice. You mentally slapped yourself. Of course sheets don't talk, you idiot. Still though, you burrowed further yet, the additional blankets tangling around your feet. Only except when you kicked them- like you would swish your tail in the water- they didn't break off like kelp would when you swam into it._

_Human stuff is so fucking frustrating._

_After a couple of minutes of silence and a few foot steps later, you were pretty sure that he'd gone, but gasped when suddenly a large weight plopped itself down beside you._

_"_ What are you doing _?" you signed, once noticing that it's Bucky again. He's taken his shoes off, and is absently fixing his hair. He wiggled his hips a bit to make room for himself in the tiny space, and smiled at you before signing back._

 _"_ If you're a sheet, then I'm a sheet too _." he dropped his hands to wait if you'd have a verbal answer, but you stayed quiet; confused. You didn't want someone near you at the moment, but at the same time, you didn't want him to leave, so you contented yourself with leaning against the wall, and smiling back. It was nice when someone just treated you like a person, rather than the odd- hybrid that you were._

_Twenty-million apologies and a pear later (both courtesy of Clint), you were out of the linen closet, being taught how the microwave is used. (Turns out, it's meant for food- not diabolical plans, as you'd thought previously)_

Shaking your head a little bit, you focused back on Nat, who was explaining a "bra" to you. 

"Yeah, it's for your chest"- looking at your "what the fuck" face, she continued- "Here, I'll show you." and with no visible shame at all, she tugged her green shirt over her head to reveal a strange contraption. It actually looked like the one that sat on your tunic a few weeks ago...

"Does it hurt you?" You asked, looking at the wire and tiny hooks. It looked constrictive and uncomfortable as fuck. She smiled at you, and shook her head.

"No, but see. It covers everything, so you should wear one too." she nods her head as she's talking, a mothering edge taking to her tone. You look down at the tunic that you are currently wearing, and fine absolutely nothing wrong with your chest. In the water, you'd be completely naked- just like everyone else. Now all of a sudden you're with the humans and they're insistent on making you wear all _kinds_ of layers of clothing. You really don't understand all of this nonsense. 

But at least you get fed, so, that's pretty nice. You think on this little tidbit of your life as you take another bite into your tuna and lettuce sandwich, munching happily.

" _I wear clothing though_." you sign, since you've officially finished your sandwich and have full use of your hands. The others have surprisingly caught up on your signing pretty quickly, and when you asked, you got 5 explanations.

_"During the war, we had to pick up quite a few languages. Signing was one of them." ~ Steve_

_"Well, my hearing is pretty much 78 percent shit, so, yeah." ~ Clint_

_"Aw, (Name), don't you know? I know everything." ~ Nat_

_*Awkward neck scratch* "As a soldier, I, uh- what Steve said. Earlier." ~ Bucky_

_"Has everyone here forgotten that I'm a fucking genius? Jesus." ~ Tony_

Nat nodded her head in agreement, but made an obvious glance towards your breasts.

" _Yes, you do, but while the boys can control themselves- it's still not nice to tease them_. _Plus, doesn't your chest ever get sore_?" she signed back. You reeled back against the cushions of the couch, looking at her very confused. You were teasing the boys? The hell? But at the same time, you were seriously wondering how she knew that you're chest had been sore since you'd come here. You signed to her quickly-

" _Yes, they do. How do you know_?"

" _T_ _hey support your chest. Keeps it from being sore. I'll get you some_."

You made a very non-committal sound.

"Humans are sexual creatures. They are attracted by each others bodies, so that's why we have to cover all the good bit's up." with that said, she gestured down her body with a wave of her hand, seeming to conclude her statement.

"Mhm, but shouldn't your best aspects be shown? So that you can find a viable mate?" you argued. Why would you cover what attracted a fertile mate? Did these humans know _anything_ about reproducing? Nat smiled, and patted your knee in an understanding matter. Like a parent giving a child the sex talk.

"Well, (Name). What do you look for in a mate?" she asked, jutting her chin out to encourage you. Damn her and using your body language against you. You crossed your ankles to swish you legs in tandem, causing them to make a soft thudding noise against the bottom of the couch. How would you word this? Sighing, you gave it your best shot.

"I don't know. Um- the signs of a healthy body, I guess. You know, broad shoulders, a tail clear of spots, and um.... oh! Can swim well. You know, so your clutch would have good genetics." you explained, deciding that that pretty much summed it up. You're still young, and even though you could've started reproducing a couple of years ago, you were otherwise....occupied. Yeah, that's how you'll label it.

You really weren't in the situation to be having any gups, so you've never put much thought into it before.

Natasha nodded, before standing up and heading towards the kitchen, but turned around at the last second to say-

"Those are all very good qualities, I'll make sure to look for a man like that."

Later that night, when you were in your room and looking for a loose top to sleep in, you came upon something in your left top drawer.

Bra's.

Natasha had gotten you bra's.

Goddammit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?! Is it going too fast, too slow? Writing is so hard, jesus. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought! Love you all! You're comments feed me with inspiration to write, and you guys are seriously awesome! Thank you! Stay beautiful my lovelies! <3


	4. Dinner with the Avengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner is definitely an odd topic for you, and you finally make a choice about this odd bunch of humans that you live with.

"So, you guys just all eat...together?" 

"Yes"

"At a....table?"

"Mhm"

"How does that work?"

"Everyone just kind of brings a dish and it's a big potluck."

"Clint, what the fuck is a potluck." you deadpanned, attempting to make it clear that you have no fucking clue what on earth he is talking about. Just to make sure that he understands your frustration, you flick your tail and splash water onto him. He reels back and makes a large gasping noise.

"Fuck! I thought we talked about this (Name)!" he whined, shaking himself like a dog to get the water droplets off of him. He hurries up and takes his phone out to make sure that no damage has been done to it, and tosses it onto your bed (which is rarely used) for extra measure. You smirk at him wickedly, still making sure that your breasts remain hidden underwater. Everyone can complain about your defiance to wear clothes all they want- if you're in _your_ room, in _your_ pool, then you can do whatever the hell you _want_.

"Oh, hush up- if I was really intending to harm you then I would've pierced you with one of my spines." you tease, twitching the pointy, elongated spines along your back for emphasis. Clint scoffs, swiping his no-longer spiky hair off of his forehead before continuing.

"Anyways, if you'd like to come then just come to the kitchen at 6:00 looking presentable." he concludes, and he turns on his heel looking like he's about to leave, but you call after him before he can. He whips around and (getting a firmer grip on your language) tilts his head to the side.

"So, you guys eat at a designated time, too?" you ask curiously, actually being sincere at this point. Clint looks at you like you've asked a very odd question, and nods his head yes. You lean your head to the side in hopes that he'll explain this oddness to you.

He does.

****

Dressing yourself in a pair of sweats and a loose tank-top, you can't help but roll on your heels a bit. You think that you look acceptable to their standards, hell, you're even wearing a _bra._ Natasha got you a bra that, as she had promised, had no cups or wires within it. It was just thick, stretchy cloth that you slipped over your head and put your arms through. You're not going to admit it to anyone, but it took you more than one try to figure the _fucking thing_ out. As a last measure of cleanliness, you picked up the hairbrush by your deodorant and pulled it through your (H/L) (H/C) hair, wincing when it tugged on a knot or two.

Looking at yourself in a mirror- you're feeling pretty damn proud of yourself. Clint said that you didn't have to dress up- he just said that you had to look _presentable_ , so, you think that you did an okay job. Heading out of your room, you remember at the last second that everyone is supposed to bring something, so you dig around in the mini-fridge by your door and continue on your way.

"-and so I told him, "I'll tell you were you can put that idiotic hypothesis, you can shove it right up your sparkly magnetic- oh! Hey there (Name)." Tony stops his story immediately, noticing you upon arrival. The others either say hi or wave to you, and you just mumble little "hi's" back. You like these humans, but you're still timid around them for the most part. You take the only open seat, which just so happens to be right between Steve and Thor, and put what your brought on the table. Clint snickers from across the table, and Natasha slaps him upside the head for it, muttering " _Don't you fucking dare_ ".

"(Name)" Bruce asks, gently. Totally ignoring her threat to Clint.

"Yeah?" you question, sniffing the air in an attempt to find the source of the most _delicious_ of smells. 

"Is that a box of Oreo's?" Bruce finally spits out, a little smile pulling on his lips. Now everyone's conversations at the table have stopped, and the attention is on you- and you don't like it. Not one bit.

"Yeah, is....is that not okay? Clint said everyone should bring something and- and I just wanted to..." your tongue stumbles along your words as you try to form a sentence, but you're afraid that you've offended them- that maybe this was the final straw of the weird mermaid-girl that they're letting live in their home. Tears start to form in your eyes, and you keep on mumbling out half-assed apologies-

"Hey, you brought one of my favorite snacks! How thoughtful of you, doll." Bucky winks, and drags the cookies over to him with his right arm. Everyone watches as he tears the foil packaging, removes a cookie, and proceeds to eat one. Bucky pulls out another one, and stops right before he takes a bite of it.

"What? Is one of you gonna say that I need to "watch my figure"? Because if you do I'll force you to watch the Direct TV help channel. I swear to God that I will." he chimes with a little smirk, giving a half-hearted glare towards Natasha when she looks like she's gonna say something smart. Not wanting to draw any more attention than necessary to this surprising act of familiarity, they all fall back into their own conversations as a silent encouragement.

Leaning into your chair with a relieved sigh, and swiping your hand across your face to wipe away an incoming tear, you smile pleasantly at Bucky.

"I didn't know that they were your favorite- Tony just kind of put them in my room and said " enough with all of this healthy eating shit time to introduce you to sugar", but I'll certainly remember to bring you some more next time, if you'd like. The sour cream and onion chips are actually a favorite of mine." you conclude, hoping that you're having "normal" conversation. He nods his head, and swats at Steve's hand when he catches him reaching for a cookie.

"Nuh-uh, s'mine. Get your own Steve, and (Name), never listen to Tony- he's an awful little shit."

"Hey! Who provides everything for you super-brats?" Tony yells dejectedly from the bar portion of the kitchen. Bucky just waves his comment off.

"But, uh, if I can remember I'll bring you some of those next time, and you can bring me- Steve glares at him-"I'm sorry- US some Oreo's, we got a deal?" he bargains, a hint of something that you'll label as charm lacing his every word. Tapping your finger against your chin in a playful manner (as you've seen the others do countless times) you ponder your response for a few moments, before reaching a hand out to him.

"Deal" and the the two of you shook on it, just as Darcy and Sam came tumbling towards the table with tupperware containers full of food, all hot and smelling delicious. Everyone literally dug into the food as soon as it was sat down on the table, and you were just as bad. Piling spoonfuls upon spoonfuls of different food on your plate, you asked what the whole mess was. Turns out that what you'd gathered had been meatloaf, cheesy au gratin potatoes, and green beans cooked with chicken broth.

Nothing could ever replace your natural urge to eat sea creatures, but this definitely came pretty close.

 Within about 25 minutes of the dinner, Sam called out to you from across the table. You picked your head up whilst still chewing a large mouthful of the peach cobbler that Steve had made, tilting your head and lifting a brow. He took that as a go-ahead.

"How do mer-people eat?" he finally spit out-spooning some more of his own dessert into his mouth while he waited for your reply.

"Um...like this?" you say stupidly, and then you brought more food to your mouth and chewed exaggeratedly. Sam shook his head, and Natasha seemed very entertained by your smart-assness.

"No, like in the wild." Sam specifies, and Steve guffaws.

"Really, the wild?" Steve jokes, jabbing at his friend in a playful manner. Sam ignores him pointedly.

"Don't be a dick Captain Small ass."

"Woo!" Tony catcalls drunkenly from his perch on the counter. Bruce walks over to him in hopes of talking him into going to bed and-

"No, Tony. Not like that-you need to go to bed."

"You just wanna get into my....my pants!" he drunkenly argues as Bruce gently coerces him down to the floor.

"An aspirin and a good nights rest will do you some good."

Tony proceeded to mumble something that sounded like a garbled mess of "dick" and "false pretenses", as Bruce tugged him towards the elevator. Once the door closes, the earlier conversation continues as if it hadn't been interrupted in the first place. But then again- Tony's drunken antics were a daily occurrence, so...

"Anyways, but yeah, you just kind of seem weirded out by this- so as a therapist I am naturally curious as to why." he offered, making sure you knew that you could say "fuck off" is you so pleased. You decided to go with the polite route though, and just explained it to him.

"Oh, um, we just kind of eat when the opportunity presents itself. We see a fish- we go for it, because for all we know it's the last meal that we'e going to see for a week or two." you concluded, feeling like you'd summed it up alright Instead of a "thank you for explaining that" or an "okay", you got apologetic looks and apologies from everybody.

"Shit, that sounds tough, I'm sorry that I asked." Sam quickly apologized, staring down at his food more appreciatively than before.

"Why? It's true. There's no designated times or anything like that- we keep on moving, never really stay in the same place." you continue, hoping that someone else will become the center of attention very soon. Thor must have seen it in your face or something, because he banged his fist against the table so hard that the wood cracked a bit, and proceeded to regale a story of fighting a.....a glignork? Something that you suppose must exist because you do and that's pretty fucking interesting.

Sighing contentedly with a full belly and a warm atmosphere- you excuse yourself from the table, bidding everyone a good night.

Settling onto a flat rock with a small divot in your pool, you lay there contentedly. Filtering the lukewarm water through your gills, you stare at the little blue rocks scattered along the bottom, and decide that this is good. You like these humans, and they seem to like you. You keep this happy thought in your mind as you drift off to a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what'd you all think? Sorry this one took so long- but I make my Halloween costumes by hand and sooo that took forever :) 
> 
> (I was the Winter Soldier- if anyone wants to know)
> 
> Leave a comment to let me what you thought and what you think should happen, and as always...
> 
> Stay beautiful my lovelies! <3


	5. Nightmares and Shiny things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a nightmare, and a certain metal-armed someone comes in to check on ya.

_"Note- Test Subject 247 unresponsive to infusion. Introducing vial 612 to blood system."_

_Click._

_It hurts, it hurts so much._

_"Note- Test Subject 247 has responded to vial 612. Vitals showing signs of instability. Introducing vial 814 to blood system."_

_Click._

_You can't breathe, the restraints are too tight. They clank and groan as you flail against the lab table._

_"Note- Test Subject 247 has begun to convulse, vitals are dropping quickly. Sedatives to be administrated immediately."_

_Click._

_More needles are being pushed through your skin, new wires being connected to your body. You shiver uncontrollably and can't decide whether or not you're too cold or too hot._

_"Note- Project Siren has been a success. Test Subject 247 has officially shifted." He sets down his comm link, and turns towards you. Swiping your hair away from your clammy forehead, he smirks._

_"Well, love, seems to me that you're gonna be some use after all." He turns to the menagerie of males and females scurrying about the room to bring your vitals back up, and  yells "Stop!". They all stop at his commanding tone of voice-knowing better than to disobey, and all still in their current motions. Despite the fact that the machines that you're hooked up to are beeping viciously as you fall into convulsions again, they all shoot their left arms into the air, and shout the name that'll be haunting your dreams for the rest of your life._

_"Hail Hydra!'_

 

_You scream._

 

 

"..me)! (Name)!" you wake up to someone yelling your name, and although you haven't opened you eyes yet, you've already noticed the voice of who'd said it. Nearly bolting out of the bed, (which you've decided to try sleeping on recently) you're suddenly caught by his arm, a thud noise echoing through the room as you collide with it. Using your own momentum to haul you around to face him, you latch onto his arm like your life depends on it. He definitely notices that you're grasping onto his left arm, and attempts to pull away, but you just hug him closer to you.

After the shock of being shaken awake in the dead of night, your previous nightmare had begun to sunk in, and you let out a sob in response.

"Hey, c'mon s'alright." he soothes. You heave another sob as he tentatively wraps both arms around you, and awkwardly begins to rock slowly back and forth- something Steve has done on more than one occasion with him. He's not completely sure what he's doing, but it's calming you down- and that's all that matters. You cry silently into his chest, willing away the bad dream by listening to his heartbeat and trying to focus on the soothing repetitiveness of his rocking. Eventually he unwraps one of his hands from you and begins petting your hair again, gently working the knots formed during your sleep out with his fingers. You nuzzle into him peacefully as you shake, working on getting your emotions under control.

After what felt like hours you finally pulled back away from him, wiping your eyes and sniffling grossly. Bucky stays silent as you do this, respecting your decision of whether or not you want to talk or be left alone. Still grasping onto his left arm, you watch in amazement as the light from the hall glints off of it. Bucky notices your discovery, and quickly tries to rip his arm away from you. You retaliate by whining (something that you'll never admit doing, but) and that seems to be enough to stop him. Pleased with your accomplishment, you study it- watching in awe as it gleams and shifts every time that you move it.

Finally breaking the silence, Bucky swallows audibly before saying, "I-it doesn't bother you?". You continue inspecting his arm, and without lifting your eyes from it, you reply-

"It's beautiful." you whisper enchantingly.

"What?" he sputters, absolutely flustered by your comment. You take your other hand and begin tracing the different panels lining it, and continue. "It's fucking beautiful, Bucky. It's...it's so shiny, and just..." you tell him gleefully. He allows you to turn his wrist any which way that you please, and although you're still sniffling and you still have tears staining your cheeks, you feel a lot better.

It feels like you've been looking at his arm forever now, and you can't believe that you've never noticed it. Then you remember that he's always worn those long sleeve shirts with the zippers, and don't understand at all why he'd hide such a beautiful piece of himself. Hell, it's even enough to distract your thoughts from wandering back to the events of the nightmare.

"I've hurt a lot of people with this..." he sighs, automatically dissing himself and his metal appendage despite your compliments. You think for a minute, trying to decide the proper thing to say, and smile when you come up with something.

"You must be very good at protecting the ones that you love then, huh?" you mutter, voice still kind of groggy sounding after your fright. He smiles a gentle smile, and nods his head.

 "Guess so"

 

Sitting on the couch in the living room, you listened to Bucky as he talked to you about how he'd gotten his arm, and 

"(Name), why do you like it so much?" he randomly asked, giving you a questioning look. You took another sip of your milk before you set it down on one of the coffee tables, and shrugged. You crossed your legs and wiggled them a bit, a little nervous to explain to him how it works.

"Oh! Um, in my....species? Is that what Bruce called it? Well, anyways- mates give each other courting gifts. It can be something like a rock, or a coin. All that matters is that it's shiny. So, ah, although it's not a courting gift, because it's you know...attached to you, it still attracts me to you." you half whisper-half mutter. It's embarrassing to explain this to him, and you really don't get the whole "dating game" as Tony put it, so you really don't know whether or not that you said the right thing.

Bucky put your worries to rest when he slung his arm around your shoulder and chuckled.

"You may not be shiny, but that doesn't stop me from being attracted to you, too."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, curious. Is it going to fast? Does anybody even read this? Haha. Tell me below in the comments what you thought!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Love you all! <3 Stay beautiful my lovelies!
> 
> By the way, I've been watching the Captain America: Civil War trailer 3 times a day religiously. Dead serious. xD


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haha, sorry for the lame ass title :p
> 
> But basically little nonsense that's bound to happen when you're a mermaid-human hybrid living with the Avengers.

_"I don't want to."_ you sign angrily, eyelids drooping ever so slightly in a testy manner. You cross your arms over your chest and cross your ankles; flicking them back and forth.

_"You need to get out of the house, (Name)."_ Natasha signs back, the slightest hint of a huff passing through her lips. She's been dealing with you for over an hour, attempting to convince you to go out with her to run some errands and just have some "girl time"

"You already have me wearing bra's. What's next- a chastity belt?" you seethe. 

"Where the fuck did you-"

"Well, with the way that you and Barnes have been acting, it might not be such a bad idea." Clint declares as he saunters into the kitchen. Natasha glares at him for interrupting her as he takes the milk out of the fridge, and chugs it straight from the carton. Much to both of your displeasure, Clint places it right back in it's spot- backwash and all.

You make sure to remember not to drink from it any time soon. Or anything else that's been obviously opened for that matter. *shudder*

After Clint leaves the room, leaving the "womb crew" to converse - _Natasha flips him off as Clint giggles like a fucking child_ \- she turns back to you and resumes the conversation.

"Anyways, as I was saying- (Name), you need to get out of the tower, even if it's just for a few minutes." she offers, tilting her chin up in a manner that translated to _"try it?"._ You thump your legs harder against the rungs of the bar stool you're sitting on as you contemplate going out with her. You really didn't want to leave the tower, because you were still learning so much. What if you fucked up? But...when you were still in the ocean, you were always exploring the underwater volcanoes and such... maybe you could give it try.

Just this once.

*

*

The two of you come back to the tower four hours later, multiple bags in tow. Natasha collapsed on the couch, absolutely out-shopped, and gave you a look that clearly said "I told you so".

" _Shut the fuck up, Nat._ " you mouth as you pull a bracelet out of one of the bags. You slip it on and admire it's place on your wrist, immersed in the way that the light flickered off of it. It's the exact reason why you bought it; the way the light would make each tiny crystal glimmer and shine with each shift of the wrist.

You went to show Nat, and found her fast asleep on the couch. You relax a little bit then, relieved that Natasha had mentioned absolutely nothing about the comment that Clint had previously made.

*

*

Asking Jarvis if you could see Tony- you were both relieved and nervous when you were granted access. Walking into his workshop, the first things that you smelt were hot metal and a pine air freshener- a vague attempt to cover up the other odors mixed within the confines of the room. 

You stood beside Tony and waited for him to turn his music down so that you could talk to him. Once he did, he grabbed a dirty yellow towel and wiped his hands off of on it.

"What do you need, sweetcheeks?" he asks curiously. Instead of drawing it out, you get straight to the point, and pull out your item of frustration.

"What is this?" you ask, embarrassed for how little you know of human tools. He takes it from your hand, and investigates it like it's the newest technology that he's ever seen, before lighting up with a smile.

"Ah, that's an easy one! This, my dear, is a genuine dinglehopper!" 

"What does it do?"

"You comb your hair with it! Ugh, I'm ashamed- Nat should have already covered this." he shakes his head as he hands it back to you, and waves you on your way.

You're relieved to finally have a name to put to this strange four-pronged object. Going to your room, you wonder why they were in the kitchen rather than the bathrooms.

*

*

When Steve watches the little mermaid with you some time later- he does not understand your sudden rage when the seagull is showing Ariel the different human objects.

"(Name)! What are you doing?!" he shouts as he watches you head towards the elevator. 

Without looking back, you hold up the fork and yell-

"Going to fucking stab Tony with thisfucking _dinglehopper_!"

Steve laughs so hard that he nearly pisses himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! By the way- this story doesn't go day by day. It's more like every chapter is a couple of weeks-possibly even a month or so. Tell me if you like it or not! I've found that it's easier to write like this, so..... :D
> 
> By the way- it's 2:00 am, my boobs hurt, and I have work in like 7 hours what the hell am I doing up.
> 
> Love you all! <3 You're support keeps me going! Stay beautiful my lovelies!


	7. Bucky and his beaches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alcohol? Bucky? Beaches?
> 
> What more could you possibly want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so basically I wanna give a huge shout-out to the amazing KnowledgeOfNonsense! Without her brilliant ideas you probably wouldn't even be getting this fluffy mess of a chapter. Go and check out her stories, I promise you'll love them ;)
> 
> Stay beautiful lovelie! <3

"I like turtles" you mumbled into Bucky's shoulder.

"I know, (Name). I know," Bucky gruffed in response. He kicked open the door leading to your bedroom and walked across the specialty wood floors. He heaved you onto your bed as gently as possible and pulled the covers over you. You squirmed and mumbled something about salt water, and he stilled for a moment. He _did_ consider putting you in your pool, where you usually slept, but decided against it. You were pretty drunk, and he figured that it would probably be better if you slept in a soft, safe bed rather than on the rocks in the pool. Plus he really didn't know how you're shifting worked _(none of them did)_ and didn't need to get blamed for drowning the fucking _mermaid_.

Once he felt that you were settled for the night, he straightened himself up and headed towards the door. But just before he could leave you grabbed onto his wrist.

"(Name)?" 

"Stayyyy" you whined, drunkenly tugging at his arm as you did. You held onto his arm for about 5 minutes until he gave up and sat down on the floor beside your bed, entwining his fingers with yours. You gave him a slanted smile and closed your eyes to sleep, comfortable in your drunken stupor. Bucky settled himself up against your nightstand and listened to your soft breathing beside him; enjoying the silence. He let that same silence lull him into a gentle slumber.

Well, until he heard a small cry come from beside him.

Tightening his fingers around the gun in his back pocket, he sprung up- ready to shoot at the intruder. He was expecting a HYDRA goon or something of that sort, and was fully prepared to protect you, no matter the cost.

So imagine his surprise when there was no one there.

He scanned the room, eyes slanting confusedly. He swore that he'd heard someone...

Then he heard the noise again, and he finally looked down at you. Your eyes were firmly closed, but your mouth was moving freely, stopping only to snore lightly every couple of words.

"(Name)?" he questioned. You muttered something unintelligible and sniffled a bit, before finally saying something that made some kind of sense.

"Miss the water..." you whimpered. Bucky squinted at you through the darkness of the room, and wondered just what the hell you were talking about. Did you really want to be in your pool _that_ badly?

"Want...touch... the ocean." you grumbled, drooling in your sleep.

_Oh. OH._

All of a sudden you twisted yourself into an entirely new position in your sleep. This made Bucky lose balance, since he was still holding your hand, and caused him to fall awkwardly on top of you. He looked at the (F/C) print blanket that his face was pressed into with shock, and jolted himself back up before you could make assumptions. You slowly blinked your eyes open a couple of times and once seeing Bucky, you sat up.

"Bucky? What are you doing here?" you asked sleepily. You lifted up a hand and rubbed at your eye as you waited for his response. You're not sure what woke you up, but you sure were curious as to what the fuck was going on. Last you knew, you were being dared by Tony to take a shot of something that he lovingly called " _Yeager_ ". Then another, and another...

"Uh, I was just...you..." he stuttered, rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath before lifting his head back up to look at you. His grey-blue eyes looked determined as they settled upon your own (E/C) ones.

"Actually, you know what? Be ready in 5 minutes and meet me in the lobby," he smiled at you and walked out of your room, giving you privacy so that you could get dressed.

You stared stupidly at the door for a longer amount of time than you'd ever admit, before you finally decided to heed his request. Digging through your drawers for something comfortable enough, you wondered what on earth Bucky would want to do at this time of night. Or morning? Fuck if you know.

You pulled off your clothes from the night before and changed into a pair of loose jeans and a plain black t-shirt. While walking out the door, you slipped on a comfortable pair of shoes and shirked on a jacket before you headed for the elevator.

JARVIS greeted you with a warm

"Evening, Miss (Name). Which floor do you wish to be taken to?"

and you quietly requested to be taken down to the lobby floor. When the metal doors opened, you weren't surprised to see Bucky standing by the doors. What you were surprised by though was the plastic bag that he held in his hands. You walked over to him and raised an eyebrow, to which he smirked, hooked his arm with yours, and winked.

"You ready to go, doll?" he asked. You shook your head yes and headed out of the doors with Bucky, eyeing the back of his head with suspicion.

You really wondered if this was some kind of alcohol-induced dream.

****

 

He didn't even have to explain, you knew that there could only be one reason why he'd bring you here.

"This...this is wonderful!" you exclaim loudly. Bucky just smiles at you and shrugs, making a wide gesture with his arms towards the tumbling waves of the ocean. You look at the dark waters and- not minding your own nudity a bit- begin to strip. Bucky makes an awkward coughing sound and turns away from you, trying to politely avoid seeing your (S/K) skin. 

You don't notice his encouraging laughter as you sprint towards the water, body shifting as soon as your body reaches a deep enough point to be completely submerged. You literally feel all of the stress melt off of you as your legs conjoin to form your tail and your spines push up out of your skin. You relish in the feeling of the salty water filtering through your gills, letting out a happy sigh that causes bubbles to float up to the surface. Once you've nearly gulped down a gallon of water, you re-emerge, staring at Bucky who's still on the sandy part of the beach.

"Hey! Bucky! Why don't you hop on in?" you called to him. He shook his head to the side and gestured towards a paperback in his hands. You shrugged and dove back down to the bottom- sweeping the sand with your shimmering (F/C) tail to uncover hidden seashells. A couple of plain white ones show up and you move to another patch in hopes of finding one that catches your eye. You've been meaning to find a new one to add to your bracelet but haven't had the opportunity to do so until now.

Every so often you poke your head back up to the surface and try to call Bucky into the water; he waves you off every time with a smile and another wave of his book. You playfully glare at him from just above the waterline until you manage to gain the attention of a rather curious fish. You chase it through the coral reef, twisting and twirling through the current as the two of you play this little game. You do eventually catch it, but decide that it's too good of a playmate to eat. You let it squirm out of your grasp and watch as it swims towards a clove of rocks.

Well then, maybe it'd want to play another game of... _tag_? Is that what the humans would call it? Yes, maybe it'd want to play another game of _tag_ some other time.

Now that you've had the opportunity to stretch your spines and play with other sea creatures, you decide that it's about time to join Bucky up on the land of the leggy. Swimming until you were just close enough to the shore that your breasts started to skid against the sand, you shifted back into human form. You picked up your scattered clothing as you walked and covered yourself up just for his sake. He seemed to appreciate the gesture, giving you a large smile as you approached, but handed you a towel and a cotton cover-up when you got close enough to him.

Afte you slipped that on and towel-dried your hair to the best of your abilities, you sat yourself down beside him. Without saying anything, you leaned up against his shoulder, comfortable in the silence of the beach.

"So? Why didn't you join me?" you asked curiously. He shrugged and pursed his lips a bit, not really giving you much of an answer.

"It was just fine watching you, doll." he whispered in response. You glanced over at the book that he had been supposedly reading, and noticed that the spine had not even been broken yet. You decided it was better to just leave it be then to be rude when he had done something so nice for you. Which speaking of...

"Thank you, Bucky. Really. This is the best thing anyone's done for me in a while." you snuggled closer into his shoulder, and sighed contentedly. He reached his hand down and laced his fingers with yours.

"Anytime, (Name)."


	8. Akward revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation that should have cleared things up, only made things more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUGE shoutout to KnowledgeOfNonsense! Thanks to her, I was able to bring this to you guys ALOT earlier than what I was planning on. So if you enjoyed this, then please go check out her works! I promise that you won't be disappointed ;)
> 
> Love ya girl! Stay beautiful <3

When you woke up the next afternoon you felt completely relaxed, the taste of salt still sharp on your tongue. You stretched languidly, your body feeling more at ease than it has in _weeks_.

It's not that you don't like it here, not that at all. With all of your daily confusion set aside, you absolutely love it here, and you really like the friends that you've made here in the tower. It's just that...you've really missed the ocean. The way that the waves would kiss your skin, the rush of chasing a school of fish, and even the pain whenever you got too close to a coral reef.

Well, except that one time when you were shot, but you're not focusing on the bad things.

You swing your legs out of bed and decide that you don't want to take a shower just yet. So instead, you change into a pair of sweats and a plain blue shirt, still kind of feeling hungover despite the amount of sleep you'd gotten.

You shuffled your way into the kitchen to find everyone else up too, all of them looking sick and drained. Steve is picking at a plate full of hash browns, Thor has completely disappeared, Bruce hadn't participated and so was making various dishes of food at the stove, Tony was sitting on a stool by the wet bar, Bucky was half slumped on the table top; all of his weight being supported by his metal arm, and Natasha was sprawled out across the entire length of the counter. Clint had his head laying on the table with a cup of coffee in hand, and he waves it at you when you take a seat at the table.

"Fuck yes, give it here," you cheer, finding that your voice is a little gruff from all of your joyous yelling the previous night. You swipe it from his hand and chug it, not even minding that it doesn't have any cream in it. You look over and see Bucky, who winks over the mug of coffee that he's been obviously nursing- if the coffee stache is anything to go by.

Tony finally lifts up his head and grins a full toothy grin, looking absolutely smug. 

"What?" you ask. You're confused as to why he's directed his attention to you, and decide to tread lightly. 

He is the most suspicious of the humans, you've noticed.

"So how did you sleep, (Name)?" he asked salaciously. You squint at him and figure that his question is innocent enough, and take another sip of Clint's coffee before answering.

"It was okay, thanks."

"Just okay? Guess you're a little rusty on your siren skills then, huh?"

"Excuse me?"

"Luring Barnes out of the tower at ungodly hours of the night, I knew something smelt _fishy_ around here."

You actually cringe a bit at that. You may not have taken a shower yet today, but you didn't think that you smelt _that_ bad. You scoot away a bit from the table self-consciously.

"Tony, stop, she doesn't understand." Bucky tries to save you from any more confusion from Tony's odd remarks, but his attempts prove to be unfruitful.

"I hope you two know, I fully expect half-human-half-mermaid babies here in 9 months." that actually made everyone's heads snap up. You cringed at his choice of words, and weren't sure how to comprehend them. Those who weren't glaring at Tony were watching you for your reaction, and to their surprise, you just shrugged.

"Actually, it would be 7 months, not 9." you correct. They can make as many off-handed comments about your relationship with Bucky all they want, but you will _not_ allow them to make such comments regarding your species when they were all ignorant as fuck. 

Steve looks at Bucky with such a look of bewilderment that his face almost looks _pained_.

"Did you guys... _fondue_?" he chokes out, his choice of words earning a few snickers from around the dining area. 

"Yeah Snow White, did you and (Name)  _fondue_." Tony retorts scandalously, wiggling his eyebrows at a dumb-stricken Bucky.

Bucky throws his hands up and nearly knocks his mug off of the table in his eagerness to defend himself.

"No! God no Tony! I'd Never do that!" Bucky exclaimed, looking horrified. He then froze, looking downright mortified at what just came from his mouth, because he knew for a fact himself that he would love for his relationship with you to become something more than friends.

"I-I mean I...I mean who wouldn't want to sleep with her? Everyone should! _Shit,_  I mean...no I didn't...Fuck I'd sleep with you but not like...shit no I wouldn't, Y/n I mean, I uh..." Bucky rambled on, a string of curses and stammering falling from his mouth all at once, while you were sitting there, frozen in your seat as you watched Bucky tear himself apart word by word. 

Finally, he couldn't take it any longer and threw up his hands in exasperation. His face was beet red at this point, and he looked borderline ready to break a sweat. You were worried he was about to blow, but he simply turned and stormed out of the room, mumbling something about how he always screwed himself over. It wasn't his fault he found you insanely attractive and adorable, but he didn't want to give the impression of just wanting sex!

 Well, sure sex wasn't off the table seeing as it'd been...a _while_ , but he wouldn't just use you like that! He was a gentleman! Right?

  _Right?_

Bruce, not knowing what had just gone down, walked into the room while balancing a large platter full of various breakfast foods. 

"Anyone want syrup?"

 

 

 After the little breakfast incident, you felt the need to relax. Plus, you felt a little off since Tony's offhanded comment about you smelling like a fish- even though Nat tried to explain to you that that was just another one of those weird human terms called "idioms".

Still though.

Turning on the shower, you couldn't stop your mind from wandering as you waited for the water to reach your desired temperature.  The odd rambling kept going through your head, and you still couldn't properly make sense out of it. Does it mean that he _likes_ you? Does it mean that he _doesn't_ like you? You're not stupid, you understand what "sleep with" means in the context that he was using. Although you don't know what fondue has to do with anything. 

The humans and their ways are so strange.

Taking off your comfy clothes, you finally slip beneath the warm spray of water. You sigh and tilt your head back against the showers wall, imagining all of your tension washing from your body and going down the drain with everything else.

You wondered if normal humans have such a hard time comprehending one another's emotions, or if it was just you. Your species ways are so much simpler. If a male felt attracted to you, then he'd let you know in simple yet obvious ways. He'd offer to comb your hair, swim circles around you playfully, and bring you pretty shells, rocks and even a small trinket if he were able to find one.

The humans however, did not seem to have such simple ways, and you were deeply conflicted on whether or not Bucky saw you as a proper mate. You didn't want to make any assumptions about your relationship with him, worried that you were getting in over your head.

When you noticed that your skin had begun to prune you decided that you'd spent enough time pondering Bucky's feeling for you, and slipped out of the shower to towel off. 

You didn't bother putting on clothes, considering that you were in your own fucking room, and plopped down into your bed. You had a whole day ahead of you, and you felt like you deserved to spend it however you wanted, and today, you wanted to do nothing but watch a couple of movies that the avengers had suggested to you; something about needing to learn pop culture references.

Asking JARVIS to load up netflix, you sighed, running your hands across your face.

What you really need is to get Bucky off of your mind.

But you're only human.

Mermaid.

Both?

Fuck if you know, but your movie's starting.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading everyone I'm so fucking sorry that I haven't been very active as of late. I had a date to deal with (that went GREAT), a bit of a family dilemma, an interview, and basically, life happened. Since things have calmed down a bit, I should be able to write a bit more frequently :D
> 
> I love you all so much! I read all of your comments and swoon with each and every word. You guys are all so sweet and I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have such special readers! 
> 
> Stay beautiful my lovelies! <3


	9. Dirty Jokes and Menstrual Cycles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm just gonna say sorry for the long fucking wait. I've been dealing with final exams, worrying about my PCOS, and just life honestly. It got in the way, and I lost my "mojo", if you will. So now I'm back! Also, I know that you guys have been asking for me to have a tumblr, and now I do! My girlfriend had to help me set it up, so shoutout to her, lol. It's theawesometoris32, just like it is on here, and honestly, all it is is gay stuff, inappropriate jokes, drawing/writing tips, and Stucky smut. Also, it's got a pic of me if you've ever wondered what I look like ;p

April 3 will forever be marked as a monumental date in the tower.

Not because of a birthday.

Not because of a death.

Not even a wedding anniversary.

Oh no. April 3 was the day that Sam and Tony made a discovery.

You had never heard jokes before.

_Not even the shitty knock knock ones._

They hadn't even realized it until you'd asked DUM-E what his name was ( he may be a robot, but you'd been learning that it was custom to ask someone's name when you first meet them- whether said someone breathed oxygen or not ) and he answered slyly with "DUM-E, don't wear it out". Of course, it was within his programming to make such a response, because come on, _Tony_ made him, but you still laughed nonetheless, never having heard such a reply.

You laughed so hard that Bruce worried for your sanity, not convinced that you were fine until it'd clicked that you'd just never heard a joke before. 

With that in mind, Sam and Tony made it a fucking _mission_ to see who could get you to laugh the most- the both of them cracking jokes ranging from ones as innocent as -

"Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Who."

"Who...who?"

"You sound like an owl!"

(That one took you a few minutes, but once you'd gotten it, you howled with laughter for a full 7 minutes, giggling throughout the day every time that you'd remember it.)

\- to one's as dirty as

"Your best friend has three girlfriends. Their names are Doe, Ray, and Me. All 3 wants to do something special so they set up some dates. Three days ago Doe kisses him. Two days ago Ray fucked him. Who sucked his dick yesterday?"

"Me!" you shouted, proud of yourself for solving the riddle. (Everyone had burst out laughing, and it took some explaining from Clint for you to finally fully understand it, laughing and blushing the whole while.)

Sam liked to stick with the more innocent ones, while Tony absolutely _hammered_ you with the dirtiest, most sinful jokes that any of the team had ever heard. You'd laugh at all of the jokes, but would sometimes cringe at some, whether it was from confusion or disgust. With the newly found love for laughter inducing sentences set aside, you'd slowly been learning slang and pop culture references. The main reason for this was because after almost every joke was told, someone would explain it to you, sitting you down and pointing all of the main points of it and why it was considered funny to most audiences.

The joke war, as it'd been so lovingly named, had become so popular that even Bucky had decided to give it a go. Telling you little jokes and doing silly things when only you were watching- just to hear your laugh, light and sweet like chimes twinkling with the breeze. ( Well, there was that one time that you snorted louder than a blue-ribbon hog, but Bucky is a gentleman, thank you very much).

You personally enjoyed his jokes the most.  Not because they were funnier (or even that good in comparison to Sam and Tony's) but because he did it to make you laugh. There was no competition, no measuring of sound waves to see which joke made you laugh harder (Tony had made it as a side project, explaining that it was the only way to truly know who's joke was funnier), and your favorite part- no audience. He usually would only tell you his jokes when the two of you were alone, making you feel safe and never judged. That's not to say that you feel uncomfortable around the rest of the group, it's just that you feel like your being put on display- to be picked apart and criticized. 

_Quite the specimen you have there. What's your price?_

Shaking your head, you focus on the current task at hand, which is to get dressed and make your way to the rec room. You'd been invited to a movie night, and you were pretty excited, being as this would be the first "family" thing that you'd even been invited to. Of course, you had always been welcome to eat meals with them but that was a given, considering that even a highly hated person would be offered meals in any household. But a movie night? That was a big step for you, and it made your heart swell every time that you thought about it. It meant that they thought of you so fondly that they were willing to integrate you into the team, to let you become a friend rather than just a strange guest. It was such a small gesture but it meant the world to you, and you hoped that you wouldn't screw up such a chance.

"(Name)? You alive in there?" Steve's voice came through your door, and you smirked at his snide comment. You were glad that he was getting more comfortable with you, but you quickly discovered that whenever Steven Grant Rogers lets loose, he becomes a sassy little shit.

"Coming!" you shout at the door. You hurriedly slip on a pair of slippers, taking a moment to revel in their pure softness, and meet Steve in the hallway outside your door.

Steve nods at you and starts walking, you following right behind. You toss some common conversation at each other until you reach the rec room where everyone else is gathered. It's somewhat dark in there, and you find that you like it- a stark contrast compared to the usually too bright lights. You look around for a spot to sit and are surprised by how comfortable everyone seems in their arrangements. 

Tony is sitting on the loveseat with Pepper close to his side, Natasha is sprawled out on the floor like a cat, Clint is leaning back on his elbows beside her, and Bruce is sitting on the plush recliner. You find Steve settling next to Bucky on the couch, Steve looking worried and Bucky looking tense. You think that everyone else looked quite comfortable in their positions, and decide that you'd be pretty comfortable next to Bucky. So without much thought, you walked over and squeezed yourself beside him, snuggling into his side a bit.

 You felt him completely freeze, and you worried for a moment, but after a few quiet deep breaths, his body relaxed. You didn't know what that meant, but paid no mind to it once the movie that the group had agreed on began playing.

****

 

The movie was about half an hour in when you noticed a pain in your lower back. It didn't necessarily hurt, per-say, but rather caused an uncomfortable ache. You were positive that it was due to your positioning on the couch, and so you moved a bit. When that didn't work, you moved again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

You were moving so much and shifting yourself so often that Bucky was sparing worried glances towards you, and you apologized every time. You just couldn't get comfortable, and you were wondering if it was the couch. Usually, you thought that human furniture was quite plush, and you were very surprised that despite this one's bulging cushions, you still couldn't find a spot that agreed with your body.

Eventually, you had to excuse yourself to the bathroom to relieve yourself, waving away any suggestions of pausing the movie until you came back. When you got in there, you did everything that you'd been taught (by a very uncomfortable avenger) and pulled your pants down. When you did so, you were shocked to find a spot of red staining your panties. You looked at it curiously, and realized that it was blood. With this realization, you looked down at your bare self, and screamed when you found more blood streaked across your inner thighs and lady bits. 

You heard a banging against the bathroom door, and without any hesitation, Bucky and Steve burst through it, ripping the poor piece of wood right off the hinges. They both looked around with worried eyes before they fell upon you. Who was currently sitting on the toilet, legs spread, pants down, with tears streaking your face.

"What's going on?!" Steve asked, completely bewildered with your current state of dress. You hiccupped a few times as you crudely gestured towards yourself.

"I'm bleeding!" you sobbed, sniffling as you tried to even your erratic breathing. Nat came striding into the bathroom then, shoving the boys out and claiming that-

"This is one of those girl things" before doing her best to shut the broken door. She instantly came up to your side and smiled softly at you, while you looked up at her helplessly.

"What's happening?" you asked, a little bit better composed now that you had her kneeling beside you. She sighed, and leaned over to rummage through a cabinet beside the sink, before holding up a strange package.

"(Name), has this ever happened to you before?" she asked kindly, crinkling the packaging of the package slightly as she shifted her hand. You shook your head no, and she smiled.

"Welcome to be being a human woman, (Name)." she laughed sarcastically, making a celebratory gesture with her arms to humor herself. You looked at her oddly, still not catching on to what being a human and internal bleeding had to do with each other.

Settling herself down beside you, she began explaining the horrifying beauty of a period, your face falling and your eyes widening the more that she delved into it. She told you all about how right now, your uterus is shedding it's lining, which had been meant to protect a fetus, and now you'll bleed for a few days at most. You were incredibly disturbed with just how gruesome that all of this sounded, and nearly flinched when she ripped the wrapper off of the strange stick that she kept on referring to as a "tampon".

Due to you trying to understand everything that she was telling you, you reverted back to making head gestures at her, tilting your head quizzically. Nat, being the angel that she is, waves the tampon in front of your face.

 "This, (Name), is a tampon. Most women prefer this rather than a pad, and considering how uncomfortable a pad is, I think that you'd like this much better. Now" She pushed the bottom part of the stick up, and a twist of cotton popped up "This is the part that'll be going inside of you."

"Inside of me?" 

"Inside of you."

"Oh"

After a very uncomfortable half an hour later, you were cleaned up, wearing a fresh set of clothes, and had a tampon up inside of you. You were blushing a thousand shades of red as you walked out of the bathroom, clutching onto a box of tampons like it was your lifeline. Luckily, no one was around to watch your walk of shame as you headed to your room, throwing yourself down on your bed and sighing in contempt.

 After a few minutes, you decided to be done with your pity party and shuffled your way back to the living room, finding everyone watching some kids movie. They all turned to look at you, and you ducked your head in embarrassment, shifting your feet anxiously. 

You didn't really know where to sit this time, worried that they were mad at you for interrupting the movie night, and went to sit on the floor. Before you could though, Bucky reached out and wrapped an arm around you waist, pulling you to sit next to him. You yelped, and looked at him, surprised at his actions.

"Why sit on the floor? There's room on the couch." he simply said, like the answer was obvious. Steve rolled his eyes and Tony giggled, and you settled in beside Bucky. Tony began giggling, and pepper kicked at him, but he didn't stop.

"What?" you asked. Tony looked up at you, a large smirk crinkling his face, and glanced in between you and Bucky.

"You've got him _whipped_."

A pillow to the face was his only response.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I understand that some of you may have questions, and I'm gonna do my best to answer them right here.
> 
> "Why is this the first time she's experienced a period?" Okay, bear with me while I shed some light on my characters imaginary biology. So basically, I thought about this for a long while, and KnowledgeOfNonsense helped me sort it out, so thanks boo <3 Anyways, she has been a mermaid her whole life, and has been a human more often than not over the course of living with the Avengers. She still shifts into her mermaid form during swimming and such, but mostly she's a human female. Of course, while living underwater, she works more like a fish, having mating cycles and producing eggs and such, and due to the danger of predators, mermaids don't bleed during their cycles. BUT, since she has been in human form so much, her body has managed to have a human ovulation/menstrual cycle. And of course, it's not realistic if it doesn't happen in public, haha.
> 
> "Why did you mention her being taught to use the bathroom/how to use a tampon?" What I am shooting for here is to be as realistic as possible, I'm working up to being more confident in my writing, and plan on getting more realistic (farts happen, okay). She obviously had never seen a toilet before she came to land, and so I haven't specified who had to teach her, but someone did. Also, I do know that Natasha is, in layman's terms, "snipped", but that doesn't mean that she doesn't know and understand everything about the woman body and the natural processes that it goes through. So yeah, she taught (Name) how to stick a tampon in. REALISTIC BITCHES
> 
> "Why was Bucky so straightforward?" Bucky is still learning about himself, but, (Name) makes him happy, and he worries for her. He now understands that he's ALLOWED to have things that make him happy, and she does, so he's not gonna dance around the fact that he likes her and wants to be near her. 
> 
> If you have any other questions, then go ahead and ask! I fucking love comments, and do my best to answer all of them as soon as I can! 
> 
> Thanks for reading! I love all of you, and hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Stay beautiful my lovelies! <3


	10. Coffee with a side of advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coffee and advice from our winged-friend.

 

You know that this could wait until tomorrow, but you need to talk to someone now. Someone that you’ve been told to trust multiple times, with all his VA credentials and other fancy titles that you still have yet to understand. You figure that if the opportunity to talk to someone was laid before you like a feast, then you might as well take a nibble.

Hence where you were now, steadily sneaking your way towards Sam’s room, walking light-footed as to not disturb the floor beneath you.

You'd learned that the humans had a certain walk for almost every emotion; some light-footed and jaunty, usually meaning that both their heart and mind were light, and others dull and short-strided, their anger heavy and overt. The walk that bothered you the most though was when you saw them walking slow and dragging their feet, barely aware of the surroundings around them. Those times made you ache with empathy as you watched them move aimlessly, making you wonder what could be troubling these humans so.

Another thing you'd learned from observing is that humans have these peculiar traits about them, traits that often don't make much sense to you. Like the way Steve will play with his fingers- is it a way of speech among this species? No one appears to acknowledge him when he does this, but perhaps they're answering him in some unknown way that you're not yet noticing? Maybe that's exactly it, a secret sign language among the humans, you'll have to be more clairvoyant if you ever want to know the answer.

You stop your movements as soon as the floor howls against your weight, seeing as how you'd prefer not to be ribbed about going to Sam’s room during the hours of the moon. Tiptoeing your way to the other side of the hall, you sigh in relief when your steps no longer procure a tune similar to that of a heart-broken whale.

Another thing that was bothering you that you'd stumbled upon while observing, was that Bucky was almost always tense. It was such a rare occurrence when his body was calm and relaxed, that you could miss it with a blink. These rare times were heavily influenced by the presence of Steve, as you'd come to notice. The few times when they were actually given the chance to hang out with one another without interruption from a team member or an urgent call, they’d get to talk and goof off with one another in their own unusual ways. Or perhaps their mannerisms are completely normal for males of their species.  You're not sure, seeing as you've only been a human for a few months.

“You're gonna get rug burn with how slowly you're dragging your feet,” said a voice beside you. On instinct, you stood up tall, spread your legs, and puffed out your chest as far as you could before turning around to face the voice.

Why were you putting on such a display? Because you're frightened, and in order to protect yourself from a potential predator you must make yourself appear bigger than you truly are. As feral as such a display may seem, it was a tactic that had saved your skin countless times.

“Okay, no need to go all pufferfish on me. Let's head into my apartment for some tea, hm?” Sam offered. You visibly relaxed, pleased to find that the voice that’d frightened you had belonged to the human you were meaning to speak with. It also helped that is voice held no malice, as you'd been concerned that he'd be terse with you due to the late hour.

“Coffee?”

“My god, Tony’s gotten to you, hasn't he? I'll give you some, but it's gonna be decaf.” he tsked. 

You followed him into his part of the complex and looked around, never having been in any one else’s room except for your own. His looked about the same as yours, though yours lacked the pictures and various decorations that he had adorning his walls. But while his seemed to appear more extravagant than yours, you couldn't help but notice that it was missing something.

“Where’s your pool?”

Sam audibly choked, his tea splattering his grey henley as he tries to gather himself.

“Well, (Name), unlike you, we don’t have our own pools. While there’s certainly enough pools in this building for each of us to have our own, they’re meant for everyone’s use. I’ll have to show you them some time.” he explains while rubbing a paper towel against his shirt. Giving up on the wet fabric, he excuses himself to change into a clean one.

“Alright. Now that I’m no longer sticky, do you mind telling me why you were sneaking down the hallway?” he asks, handing you your coffee as he sits down on the (F/C) chair across from you.

“I was looking for you, actually,” you admit, sipping the warm drink to calm your nerves. It’s not that you’re scared that Sam will judge you or anything, but it’s still an embarrassing topic for you to be discussing with him. You’re not even sure if it’s socially acceptable for you to be asking him something like this.

_“Does Bucky-”_

“Woah, remember, human over here. I don’t understand all of your weird movements.” Sam reminded you, but there was no harshness to his words. You blushed, not even realizing that you were trying to talk to him through your language.

“Sorry, um…” you trailed off. He made a weird waving motion with his hand, circling it instead of flapping it like you’ve seen other humans do. You’d learned that it was a way of communication among them, meaning both “Hello” and “Goodbye”. Which makes no sense to you at all. Why would they use a hand motion that has two meanings? Let alone two meanings that totally contradict each other?

“C’mon,  (Name), spit it out.” Sam encouraged, bringing you out of your thoughts. You’ll have to reflect on their weird habits later, but right now, you have something to ask Sam.

“Does Bucky wish to court me?”

There, you said it. Or more so, blurted it out, but you said it nonetheless. You finished off your tea as you waited for his response, fiddling with the cup handle instead of setting it down.

Sam leaned back into his chair, a smile spreading across his face; getting wider by the minute. He clasped his hands together with a loud slap, and rubbed them together, before leaning forward. You looked at his hunched form, curious, and were nearly startled when he laughed.

“Woo, gotta say, I’m surprised that you came to me about this.”

Your face dropped when you heard that. Your worries were right, this was something that you shouldn’t have brought up with him. You’ve messed up, you’ve really-

“Hey, I don’t know why you’re making that face, but stop it. I think it’s great that you’ve come to me with this!”

“Y-You do?” you stammer, twitching your legs, which you’ve had crossed since you’ve sat down. It’s not your tail, but it’s easy to pretend that it is when both your legs swing in tandem, a force of habit that makes you feel calm, like you’re in your element.

“Oh hell yeah! Barnes isn’t gonna get his head outta his ass anytime soon, so you might as well make the first move.” he looks nearly ready to burst, and you’re not entirely sure why he seems so excited about the prospect of you holding a courtship with Bucky. Also, his head is in his ass? That sounds painful, because you’re pretty sure that those are two completely different regions of the human anatomy. Maybe you can get him to embellish on the statement.

“His head is in his…?”

“Another one of those human sayings, you’ll learn soon enough. The point is, is that you’ve got yourself a man to catch.” he concedes, that smile of his turning into a sly smirk.

“I do?” you wonder aloud. How are you supposed to catch a human? Or does he mean how to catch a man?

“He wishes to court you, (Name). That much is sure, now, here’s the plan.”

You tilted your head, showing that you were listening, and he began.

  
Going to Sam was a great idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel terrible. I made you guys wait this long for such a short, boring chapter. I'm sorry. I had and still have a lot going on, and it's taken quite the toll on my will to write. I hope you guys enjoyed this! Please comment your thoughts on this chapter! 
> 
> I love you all! Thank you so much for reading! And always- Stay beautiful my lovelies! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy? Please contribute to my writing by [Buy Me a Coffee](https://ko-fi.com/A671K2B) Every cup helps!


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